Page 43 of Beautiful Disaster

Mason grabs my hand and forks our fingers together. “I’m glad he did. You all deserve happiness.” He kisses the back of my hand and lets go. “Now, go on. They’re watching us.”

I look up to see all four of my brothers watching me through the curtains. I wave, and they wave back.

“Thanks for this,” I tell him. “Really.”

“You’re welcome, Jinx. I look forward to seeing you again. Text me with your schedule.”

I open the truck’s door and hop down. “I will.”

When I close the door and step onto the porch, I watch him slowly drive away, feeling weirdly naked without him. This weekend didn’t feel like a couple of days. It felt like an eternity.

With a shiver, I step into the house instead of going up to my place. Otherwise, everyone’s going to hound and bombard me with stupid questions.

When I head to the living room, I find my brothers gathered, sitting, and waiting anxiously. “Nosy busybodies,” I say.

“Can’t say we’re not curious as to why you’re suddenly seeing the owner of Ristorante Vitali,” Julien says.

“What did Aleks tell you?”

“I didn’t tell Julien or anyone anything,” Aleks says. “You asked me not to, but we all saw you pull up with him, then he kissed you, so…” He shrugs.

Julien takes Aleks’ hand and kisses it. “Jinx, I thought I suggested that you take a break from dating. And a man? I’m kind of surprised.”

Tink curls into Foxy. “You said you’d never date a man again.” Foxy nods in agreement.

I huff, drop my bag on the floor, and remove my coat. I sit on a cushioned chair and roll my eyes. “I swear, there’s no privacy around here. Fine, whatever. This isn’t… dating. Kind of. We have a different sort of arrangement, and no, I’m not going to tell you what. Let’s just say he’s giving me something I didn’t know I needed.”

Julien sighs, eyeing me with those dark, penetrating eyes. “Jinx, I’m not your father, and I’m not going to tell you what to do, but just… be careful. Older men are different from someone your age. He—”

“No, shit, he’s older. That’s what I like about him. I’m not about to date some dude my age who can’t even wash his ass.” Everyone but Julien giggles. I rub my temples and close my eyes, exhaling loudly before I look at him again. “I get it as much as anyone else here. We were all abused by older men. Mason isn’t like that.”

“I just don’t want you to get hurt. We all love you.”

The words are a gut punch. It’s not something I hear often, if at all, even from this family. For some reason, I fight the urge to say the words back as I stand and grab my bag. “It’s my life. I’m taking weekends off to spend time with him… if that’s okay.”

“Any day you want. The ranch is covered. But Jinx, the town’s going to talk.”

“Fuck the town. They haven’t lived my life.”

I start to storm off, but stop and wince. They’re just trying to be protective, as nosy as they fucking are. I turn to face them and let out a sigh. “Sorry… It’s just… Mason is a very good communicator, and he’s very nice. He’s doing for me what no one else has been able to. I want to try this with him. Will you please trust me?”

Julien nods as the others watch on. “We trust you. We don’t trust him. When an older man seeks a younger one, there’s usually a motivation behind it. A bad one.”

“I sought him,” I say. They don’t need to know about how our first meeting started.

Julien stands, taking Aleks with him. “Okay, then. Just know we’ll be here if it doesn’t work out. And if he fucks with you, there’ll be hell to pay.”

I love my family, but hate their nosiness. Still, I know it’s because they care about me. I want to be angry at them, but it’s hard.

I say nothing, spin on my heels, and walk home with a stupid grin on my face because I know Julien will do anything to protect all of us. It definitely makes you feel loved.

Before I head up, I walk into the stables to see my Waffle. Jim is there, working on Honeysuckle’s shoes and hoofs. He’s our trainer, but he also keeps the babies groomed and cared for.

He’s wearing a cowboy hat and a thick Carhartt jacket. He’s in his fifties and is a pretty nice guy. He used to work on another horse ranch, but it filed for bankruptcy after overextending itself. He needed a job, and we were looking.

“Hey, Jim,” I say.

“Howdy, Jinx,” he says in a thick Texas accent.